“In China, .com is just random letters. It could just as well be .qxv.” 🇨🇳
On day two of DomainFest Asia 2015, I talked with Simon Cousins, co-founder of PR and strategic communications agency Allegravita, about the Chinese domain market. 🎙️
📊 In this episode, we unpacked:
- 🇨🇳 Helping registries enter China
- 🔤 Why X, Z and Q are valuable
- ❌ Why he never buys .com
- 🗄️ Use a database, not a spreadsheet
- 🤝 Guanxi: trust beyond escrow
🎥 Watch the full episode:
🇨🇳 Helping Registries Enter China
Allegravita started in Beijing 13 years before this interview and has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, New York City and Boston. It helps foreign companies, including many domain registries like .club, .co, .ceo and .global, understand and enter the Chinese market. 🇨🇳
Western registries are often tiny teams, while a Chinese fast-food chain with a few outlets may employ 500 people. So Allegravita helps them tell their story in a way Chinese partners understand. Its in-house database holds tens of thousands of hand-written domain entries with pricing, meanings, pinyin and Cantonese equivalents. For one of their registry clients, read the .CLUB team’s interview. 🔗
🔤 Why X, Z and Q Are Valuable
Mandarin has about 20,000 characters, around 3,000 in daily use. Pinyin renders them in English letters and uses few vowels, so letters that are least popular in Scrabble, like X, Z and Q, are common and valuable in Chinese domains. 🔤
After the Chinese stock market crash, capital hadn’t fully returned to domains, but Simon expected it to flow back, since domains had delivered multiple-times returns year on year. He recommended relatively low-priced names in extensions investing in China, like .club, .co, .global, .ceo and Rightside’s .rocks. For more on China’s influence, read Gregg McNair’s interview. 🔗
❌ Why He Never Buys .com
Simon and his wife share a substantial portfolio, mostly IDNs and premium Chinese names, focused on three main categories, including LGBTQ-focused names as China’s gay community grows more open. 🏳️🌈
They never buy .com. He believes the web is moving to a semantic basis, and “commercial” isn’t a word Chinese people use. The Chinese government also encourages people to visit sites whose domains they can understand. He spoke about Chinese domains at World Domain Day in Hyderabad, and loved the biryani. For more on the new-TLD shift, read Edmon Chung of DotAsia. 🔗
🗄️ Use a Database, Not a Spreadsheet
His top tip for new domainers: don’t track names in Excel. At 10 to 100 names, a spreadsheet seems fine. By 500 or 1,000, it’s impossible to manage, and migrating to a database is expensive enough to make you want to quit. Start with a database. 🗄️
Domain investors are among the most opinionated people in the world: “100 domain investors in a room means at least 100 opinions.” Most are smart lone wolves. DomainFest Asia was a giant experiment in giving Chinese and non-Chinese speakers equal footing, and it proved there’s appetite for it. 🌏
🤝 Guanxi: Trust Beyond Escrow
The simple way to build trust in a domain sale is escrow. But in China, trust is guanxi: a mix of trust, relationship and obligation. 🤝
The obligation part matters most. If you feel obligated to look after each other’s interests, you don’t need escrow. Go beyond friendship and eating together: help each other until obligation forms. That’s a strong basis for business. ✨
📝 Key Takeaways From the Simon Cousins Interview
- 🔤 Chinese buyers value consonant-heavy pinyin names
- 🌐 Meaningful extensions matter in China
- 🗄️ Track your portfolio in a database from day one
- 🤝 Build obligation, not just friendship
- ⏳ Expect capital to return to Chinese domains
❓ FAQs About Simon Cousins
Who is Simon Cousins?
Co-founder of Allegravita, a PR and strategic communications agency that helps foreign domain registries enter China.
Why do Chinese buyers prefer domains without vowels?
Pinyin, which renders Chinese characters in English letters, uses few vowels, so letters like X, Z and Q are common and valuable.
What is Simon’s best tip for new domainers?
Use a database instead of a spreadsheet to track your portfolio from the start.
🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love
- Interview with Raymond King from Top Level Design at Domainfest 2015
- Interview with Mary Wong from ICANN: Domainfest 2015
- Interview With Ron Jackson Owner of DNjournal.com at DomainX Bangalore 2015
- Interview with Team Sedo.com Frank Tillmanns & Sophie Pieck
Would you invest in Chinese pinyin domains? Tell me in the comments. 💬
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Jitendra Vaswani is a well-known expert in SEO and AI-driven digital marketing. He has spoken at international events and founded Digiexe, a digital marketing agency, and AffiliateBooster, WordPress plugin designed specifically for affiliate marketers. With over 10 years of experience, Jitendra has helped many businesses succeed online. His bestselling book, Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom, with over 20,000 copies sold globally, underscores his influence and commitment to empowering digital marketers.